By: Al Ballesteros & Pepe Torres
Adelante Magazine was the focus of an exhibit at the California State University at Fullerton from November 2024 through January 2025 in the lobby of the Pollak Library. Students and visitors had the opportunity to get a comprehensive view of the magazine, and its place in the history of our types of publications. Adelante is the longest running LGBTQ+ Latinx publication of its kind in the United States and documents the history of the community from its perspective as a Southern California publication.
The exhibit called, Adelante Magazine: Documenting Queer Latinx Stories since 1998, was curated by Dr. Eddy Francisco Alvarez Jr. and student assistants Leilani Acosta Salgado and Eric Morales, and the exhibit focused on the history and importance of Adelante Magazine, as well as other forms of print media, as tools for highlighting LGBTQIA+ viewpoints in the Latinx community. The exhibition was on display through January 2025, but one can view all copies of Adelante Magazine as part of the Zuñiga Research collection by visiting the University Archives & Special Collections during their regular reading room hours.
In 2022 CSUF University Archives & Special Collections acquired the Adelante Magazine collection. Every month, the University receives an updated copy of the magazine that is added to the archive. CSUF is one of the only universities in the United States that maintains the entire collection, more than 27 years of history of the LGBTQ+ Latinx community.
According to the curators, “For over two decades, Adelante Magazine has been a vital voice for the LGBTQIA+ Latinx community. From its roots in print media — a tool historically used by Latinx activists and artists — the magazine has helped shape culture, foster community, and share queer, trans-Latinx stories. Through its run Adelante Magazine became increasingly inclusive and the positive impact on the community remains immeasurable. Adelante continues to be a crucial part of the LGBTQIA+ Latinx legacy.”
Adelante Magazine was started in May 1998 with the primary intention to provide information to the Latinx community about HIV/AIDS and local resources available for prevention and treatment. After its launch, it became clear that many other issues needed to be addressed and the magazine became a full-scale community publication covering local news and events, culture, the arts, features of LGBTQ activists and mainstream celebrities, immigration, general health issues, among other topics. The magazine is volunteer driven and has produced its contents with the assistance of many writers, photographers and advocates since its inception. We are thankful to our editor, Pepe Torres for his countless hours of work to keep Adelante Magazine moving forward. We are also thankful to the many writers, news reporters, photographers, models, make up and clothing assistance for models, distribution staff, graphic artists, advertisers and logistics people that have helped the magazine in some way over the last 27 years. We could not have done this work without you.
For putting together the CSUF exhibit Adelante Magazine would like to thank Dr. Eddy Francisco Alvarez, Jr, and students Leilani Acosta Salgado and Eric Dean Morales. We also wish to thank Barbara Miller, the Zuniga Research Collection Librarian and Ashley Iniguez, who was a graduate student in History with a concentration in Chicanx Studies. We offer a special thank you to the Paulina June and George Pollak Library, to University Archives and Special Collections at CSUF, especially Patrisia Prestinary and Garret Fritz, and to Trish Campbell, Exhibit Program Coordinator and her team for their support and labor in making the exhibit happen.
We have approximately 20 nearly complete collections still available. If you are a Library and would like to acquire this archive, please contact us at Readelante@aol.com or by calling 323-256-6639.